What is a social profile?
People create social profiles to inform other users about their personalities across social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Users may include various attributes about themselves on social profiles such as interests, relationship status, recent activity, photos, education, and expertise.
A social profile helps a viewer understand who an individual is and if there’s a potential for association or connection. Brands also create social profiles to increase recognition and showcase defining traits. Social profiles are found across social networking platforms, where users connect with one another to communicate and share.
Types of information on social profiles
Individual users determine the type and level of detail of information to share. Some of the common types of information on social media profiles include:
- Interests: People might include hobbies and interests on their profiles, like sports, traveling, reading, knitting, and art.
- Awards and designations: Professionally-focused social profiles often feature awards and honors. Employee recognition awards, accredited online certification programs, and professional honors might be mentioned.
- Education: An individual may list their education on a social profile.
- Expertise and skills: Professional social profiles highlight an individual’s knowledge and skills. This can include hard and soft skills and any specialized skill sets needed in a specific line of work. For example, a developer may list coding languages to convey areas of expertise.
- Relationship status: Some social profiles provide fields to display relationship status. This can cover romantic and non-romantic relationships depending on the type of profile and platform.
- Recent activity: Many social profiles allow users to share thoughts, activities, and other information. The type of recent activity will vary depending on the intention of the social networking platform. For instance LinkedIn is a professional networking platform intended for sharing professional news, milestones, and work-related thoughts.
- Location: Some social profiles include a location-based field.
- Contact information: Businesses and individual users can share contact information on social profiles for easy reference.
- Products and services: A social profile for a business should have information about their products and services, namely descriptions, pricing information, and links to additional details.
Benefits of social profiles
Active social profiles can benefit both individual users and businesses, some of which are explained below.
- Larger networks: Social profiles make it simple for businesses and individuals to connect with others and develop relationships. An active social presence can lead to a more extensive community with similar interests.
- Increased discovery potential: Businesses using social profiles in the digital age improve their likelihood of being discovered by connections and customers.
- Greater brand awareness: Social profiles help users expand brand awareness, whether building a personal brand or representing a company.
Social profile best practices
Creating an engaging and complete social profile garners the best results for users. While social profiles vary across platforms, below are some best practices to consider to optimize profiles:
- Complete bios and descriptions: Businesses and individuals should use bios and brief description fields to showcase themselves or their brands. Providing consistent descriptions across social profiles contributes to greater brand recognition.
- Links to websites: Many social profiles allow users to include relevant links to websites. Businesses and individuals can create the best user experience by ensuring all links shared are optimized for different-sized devices.
- Use of visuals: Users should add engaging and creative visuals to their social profiles to attract the attention of the site’s visitors. Types of visuals might include profile pictures, business logos, graphics of products, and images from events.
Interested in learning how your social profile is performing on Twitter? Take a deep dive into Twitter Analytics.
Alyssa Towns
Alyssa Towns works in communications and change management and is a freelance writer for G2. She mainly writes SaaS, productivity, and career-adjacent content. In her spare time, Alyssa is either enjoying a new restaurant with her husband, playing with her Bengal cats Yeti and Yowie, adventuring outdoors, or reading a book from her TBR list.
